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​Woman Couldn't Afford London Home So Built Herself Luxury Houseboat For £182k

​Woman Couldn't Afford London Home So Built Herself Luxury Houseboat For £182k

She's not done anything by halves, having included numerous luxurious details like a king-sized bed, high ceilings and double shower

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

London is notorious for its steep - and rising - housing market, and while some people are more then prepared to pay the hefty premium that comes with living the capital, what if you can't afford that? Well, this woman decided to work around the issue by sacking off the housing market altogether... by building herself her very own luxury houseboat for £182,000 ($247,500).

The boat will feature on More 4's My Floating Home, along with many other homes on water.

Sure, £182k may still sound fairly pricey, but compared to the price of most houses in London - and considering just how sweet this place looks - she's done seriously well.

Karen Boswell, who is a 35-year-old advertising executive, designed and built her 70ft houseboat herself in just four months, having felt frustrated that she was unable to clamber up the tricky housing ladder despite being on a six-figure salary.

She's not done anything by halves, either, having included numerous luxurious details like a king-sized bed, high ceilings, poured concrete counter tops and a double shower.

"I could have afforded a two-bed place in a not-great area or a studio or one-bed somewhere I wouldn't be stabbed walking home, but I wouldn't have had any wiggle room to put a finish on it," Karen told The Times.

PA

But then a friend suggested a houseboat as a possible affordable alternative, which prompted Karen to rethink her preconception that life on a boat would be 'weird and cramped'.

Putting down a deposit of just under £50,000, Karen took out a marine mortgage - which she'll be able to pay off in just five years - to purchase the 12ft-wide empty vessel for £120,000.

She had to take out a loan of £20,000 to spruce it up inside, but the boat is now worth £30,000 more than she paid for it, so it's clearly paid off.

The two-bedroomed boat, named 'Maybe Tomorrow', is docked in a private marina just off the Grand Union Canal in north-west London. Boswell pays £8,000 ($11,000) a year to keep is there, along with an annual fee of £3,000 ($4,000) for electricity and a three-yearly hull treatment.

"Not cheap," Boswell admits, but does reckon it's worth it.

PA

She's also apparently got plans to purchase a kayak so that she can paddle over from her home to the supermarket or pub, which sounds like the absolute dream, to be honest.

Apparently the number of boats registered to be moored on London waterways has increased by nearly 60 percent in the past five years, according to 2017 figures from the Canal and River Trust, meaning it's on the up.

And if you don't have £182k to spare, you can do it for much cheaper, too. The Bristol Post reports that while some boats can set you back around £200,000 ($272,000), you can get some - still in a liveable condition - for as little as £30,000 ($41,000).

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, Housing, Interesting